Terran Engineering Union

Aside from Imperial Forgeworks, the Terran Engineering Union (TENGU) is a major shipbuilder for the Imperial Navy. Union ships are also seen in use by many corporate entities and private citizens, and are the most-commonly seen ships in human space. While the Union's contracts with the Imperial Navy and Defense Forces are less lucrative than those held by Forgeworks, the Union sells to private companies and citizens as well - though the ships are usually less well-armed than their Naval counterparts.

The Terran Empire follows the uncommon practice of allowing armed corporations and merchant fleets, which makes for a very profitable market for battle-ready vessels. In fact, all civilian vessels owned by Terran Citizens are required to be armed with at least minimal defensive weaponry. This creates a much more dangerous situation for any invading alien or rebel force, and increases the market share of weaponry-focused corporations like the Union.

History
Following the amalgamation of more than half of human shipbuilding corporations into the Imperial Forgeworks nationalized megacorp, the surviving unionized and co-op companies soon realized they would be forced into bankruptcy without unifying themselves into a common threat. The looming specter of socialism incited the rapid creation of the Terran Engineering Union, which exists over a decade later, and is much stronger for it. Famous for it's relatively high wages, excellent benefits packages, and speed of production - it has become somewhat of a joke that "Scientists and Artists sign up for Forgeworks, Engineers and Mechanics only work for the Union."

Before the development of the Forge system under IFOR, the Alpha Centauri Shipyards were the largest manufacturing base in Terran Space. Considering 80% of the manufacturing facilities in the system were owned by groups that formed the Union in the first place, buying out the rest was quickly accomplished, with relatively low cost. Forgeworks was too busy consolidating in Anvil to be bothered with a property war in Alpha Centauri.

Forgeworks ships are usually noted for their sweeping curves, golden hues, heavy energy shielding, and streaming energy-type weaponry. Union ships, on the other hand, are angular. They eschew artistry in favor of faculty, and rely more on armor than shielding. Furthermore, they rarely use energy-based weaponry and tend to prefer ballistics and missile weapons. In short, Union ships are the prototypical "human" ships from ancient fiction like Battlestar Galactica, Stargate, or Firefly.

Cooperative Ownership
The Union is also unique in the way it is owned and operated. Every employee of the corporation is a partial owner. Even management are beholden to the Union Board, and the Union Board is elected every two years in free, fair, open elections. Even a brand new employee could feasibly run for the Board. As it stands, this creates an interesting dynamic. Most profits are quickly spent on increasing the number of jobs, strengthening the quality of benefits, or offering reasonable bonuses to the entire membership. There are no extremely high-paying positions with the possible exception of the Union Board, and term limits exist to ensure no one person or group becomes entrenched in those spots.

All-in-all, it is widely accepted that Union jobs are the best jobs in human space. For this reason, it has become extremely difficult to gain a position with them - and most employees never consider leaving unless for retirement. Considering that humans these days can live for 200 or more years, and retirement age is now around 140, this restricts the number of available positions a great deal.

Battleships

 * Galactica Main Battleship
 * Hellfire-Cevain Battleship